There will be no change until Muslims wake up

Ben-Dror Yemini// Nearly 40 Muslims were murdered last Friday in a mosque in Kuwait. Dozens of Egyptian soldiers were killed on Wednesday. In between, another 103 Muslims were massacred in the city of Kobani in Syria, another 50 in the village of Lego in Somalia and 28 others in Sana’a, Yemen.

We don’t know about all terror attacks in real time. In 2013, nearly 18,000 people were murdered in terror attacks, and in 2014 the number crossed 32,000. Almost all of them were Muslims. In addition, there are the victims of the wars in the Muslim world, so the estimates are that 132,000-174,000 Muslims were killed in 2014. And that’s before mentioning the millions of refugees whose situation is deteriorating.

Sometimes it seems that the battle against global jihad is succeeding, but that’s an illusion. The jihad has made entire countries collapse and led them to destruction. Somalia, Iraq, Syria and Libya are in the process of falling apart. Yemen is on its way. And now the jihad is trying to do to Sinai what Boko Haram did to northern Nigeria. A huge, strong and equipped army is finding it difficult to defeat a terror organization. If anyone thought there was a chance for a defeat, Wednesday’s fatal attack made it clear that it’s not about to happen anytime soon.

Last Friday’s terror attack at a mosque in Kuwait. It’s true that the free world is indifferent, but why are the victims indifferent? (Photo: EPA)

There is also no need to get caught up in illusions about Egypt. Its current regime is secular, and after the very non-springlike Arab Spring era, it now appears to have a stable and strong government. But the support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has not disappeared. In a survey published two years ago, 74% of Egyptians were in favor of applying the Sharia laws not only on themselves, but also on non-Muslims.

If anyone thinks the Egyptians have suddenly become liberal, they are wrong. The wave of loathing Hamas was mainly on the part of the government and media. It’s not entirely clear that the Egyptian people hold similar views. In a country where only three years ago such high rates were in favor of imposing the Sharia on non-Muslims, the distance between them and the ideology driving jihad is not that big.

Regardless of the identity of the terror organization operating in Sinai now, it is clearly is not operating in a void but receiving considerable support from the local population. It’s true that they are mainly slaughtering other Muslims, but there is no surprise here: It’s the exact same thing wherever political Islam raises its head.

A change, if it ever happens, will only take place when the Muslims themselves wake up. Obviously, not everyone who supports the Sharia also supports terror. According to different surveys, an absolute majority of Muslims, including the Egyptians, oppose the Islamist State. But so far, no one has succeeded in turning this opposition into real action. Volunteers join the jihad which massacres Muslims, but there are hardly any Muslims who volunteer to fight the Muslims’ murderers.

How can it be that the millions of Muslims who have turned into refugees in the past three years have failed to establish even one brigade to fight those who are abusing them? It’s true that the free world is indifferent, but why are the victims indifferent?

How can it be that tens of millions of Muslims refuse to rise up against this? It’s time to direct our claims at the Muslims themselves: Rise up, wake up. No one will save you if you don’t save yourselves.